To Shoot or Not To Shoot...

June 16, 2010

Our introduction to Harstad continued today with a presentation by our Norwegian friend, Lise Aamot Linaker about her company, Kunnskapsparken. I should start by saying that knowing Lise in Harstad certainly opens doors since Lise is a famous soccer player. In Norway, soccer is not played in high schools and colleges or as a professional (paid) sport. Instead, there is an intramural league with divisions. Lise’s team (her father is the coach, her sister is also on the team) is Division I, which is the second best team. The top two teams in Division I move up to Top Division next year and currently Lise’s team is leading Division I. Needless to say, many people know Lise in Harstad!

Lise and Hilde are co-workers at a company called Kunnskapsparken Nord AS. Kupa, as they refer to it, is a regional industrial incubator working to contribute to the Northern Norway powerhouse for innovation. They do this by working within three areas: industry, entrepreneurship and youth. The goal is to bring attention and with that, people, innovation and ideas, to the Northern Norway region which is suffering from a lack of people to take advantage of the opportunity that lies within the region. Instead, the young people and those seeking professional careers tend to gravitate toward the south, around Oslo. With this company, funded largely by the local big industries including Statoil, Total, Bergen Group and Industri-Inkubator, the team leaders work to develop business ideas, attract talented and qualified professionals to helm projects and instill a sense of pride and loyalty to the northern area in the youth. Within the Dynamic Industry sector, the team works with established businesses to develop their business within the oil and gas, renewable energy and oil spill prevention and control areas. The team works to lead and develop projects, connect different companies with others in particular expertise areas, establish contact with research and obtain capital. Within the Dynamic Entrepreneurship area, the team seeks to create tomorrow’s businesses by connecting with individuals or companies with business ideas in early stages and helping develop business plans and innovative thinking. Within the Dynamic Youth area, the team wants to increase the interest in and knowledge of science and entrepreneurship in young people. They make science fun and interesting through the Newton program so kids can connect the knowledge they learn in the books with the reality of what is happening in their backyard and think about the possibility of growing up and working within the region.

Sitting and listening to these presentations was very interesting, especially keeping in mind that the Harstad area has 23,000 residents and the entire Northern Norway area has about 120,000 residents. I think it is easy for a company like Kupa to exist in a small area where there is no competition and the ability to connect with the individuals is almost on a one-to-one basis. In a country like the United States or a region like the East Coast or even a state like New Jersey, it would be impossible to make those connections because there are just too many people and too may organizations doing some aspect of the same project. There is also too much doubt; the fact that Kupa is funded by big companies working to essentially get more employees in the area for their benefit would be questioned. Although not advertised during our presentation, Kupa also owns a separate entity (Hilde is the CEO) that is strictly an investment group looking to put money into projects or entrepreneurial ideas. At the end of the day, Kupa is a business looking to make money and I think that fact, should it have been better highlighted or openly admitted, would have reduced my skepticism in the presentation. Regardless, whatever the intentions, the end result is that Kupa continues to deliver support to entrepreneurs and youth and that is making for a better Harstad.

After our tour of Kupa, we headed out to the Trondenes Fort for a look at Adofokannon or “Adolf’s Gun.” This area of Harstad was actually occupied by both the Germans and the Allied forces at different times and is referred to as the Atlantic Wall. The Trondenes Fort, which is located at the naval ranger’s base, is home to the world’s largest land-based cannon or the Adolf gun. The gun barrel is 40.6 cm in diameter and has a range of 56 km. It was constructed by the Germans in World War II and was later used by the Norwegians as a defense weapon during the Cold War. While the gun was fired twice for practice by the Germans and the Norwegians, it was never used in war. The last time the gun was fired was in 1957. At the time, the Norwegians had extra ammunition and wanted to dispose of it. However, there was an accident and five men lost their lives. Tore, our tour guide for the trip, remembers being a young boy sitting on a bus waiting to go home when he saw blasts and fires from atop the hill. All the police and ambulance immediately went to the scene and the area was cordoned off and all people in the town of Harstad were asked to stay in because of shooting grenades.

Adolf’s gun is one of four within the same battery on the Trondenes peninsula. The original intention was the deploy these huge cannons on battleships, but instead they were used on the coastal forts of Norway to protect Narvik. Below and next to the canons are bunkers for ammunition, guard quarters, a power station, sanitary installments, hearting/ventilation and an emergency exit. In Trondenes, firing was led from a command post 150 meters north of the cannon. There were 20 people who worked inside of the cannon while 68 total people worked on the general maintenance and operation of the gun. The shells had a weight of 1,020 kg to 600 kg with a recoil power of 580 tons to 635 tons. One shell could be fired per minute at a 20 degree elevation. The gun was decommissioned in 1961, but it wasn’t until 1990, when a group of retired personnel took up the restoration and maintenance of the gun as a monument.

And what better way to end a rainy overcast day then to order pizza and have some drinks with our great friends in Harstad! Hilde hosted an evening in for our team, Lise, Ann and our hosts to toast to our adventures in Northern Norway and to promise a return visit in the near future!

Interesting Observations:
Norwegians are very aware of the legal drinking and driving laws. In Norway, a driver cannot have more than 0.1 miligram blood alcohol content per liter of blood. This means that when we are out to dinner or at somebody's house, the driver will never touch a drink and in fact, non-alcohol beer like Freeze is very popular. The Norwegian penal code for driving and drinking is extremely harsh. First time offenders will lose their license for two years and must pay two month's worth of their salary as a fee. We need stricter laws in the United States!